Reasons for Academics' Migration: Security Environment, Mandatory Hijab, and Filtering

A two-day conference titled "Migration of Scientific Elites in Today's Iran: Challenges and Solutions" concluded on Thursday, January 3, where reports and speeches indicated that the security environment in universities, mandatory hijab and its intensification under the so-called 'Chastity and Hijab Law', as well as filtering, were significant factors influencing the migration of academics. According to a report by Khabar Online from this meeting, 'The crises of the university institution, including the security environment, restrictions on academic freedoms, and the closed nature of student activism, the narrowness of international communication, and generally the distancing of the university institution from the global nature of science, social responsibility, and development opportunities have directly and indirectly intensified the migration of academic elites.' The meeting also discussed accelerating factors for migration, which Khabar Online reported as 'erosion of social capital, decreased hope for the future, discrimination and deprivation of fair rights, and restrictions on social, political, and cultural freedoms.' According to this report, the final statement of the conference referred to the migration of scientific elites as a 'national issue.' Saeed Peyvandi stated, 'The widespread desire to migrate reflects the despair of Iranian society regarding the future.' The statement also identified part of the challenges of academic elites' migration as influenced by governance policies and rigid approaches prevailing in universities, emphasizing: 'The crises of the university institution, including the security environment, weakness in financial, administrative, and executive independence, restrictions on academic freedoms, and the closed nature of student activism, the narrowness of international communication, and the connection between industry and society with the university, and generally the distancing of the university institution from the global nature of science, social responsibility, and development opportunities have directly and indirectly intensified the migration of academic elites.' Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi, the Minister of Health of the Islamic Republic of Iran, referred to the migration of elites as 'a waste of resources for the country,' which 'means losing the country's superior genetics.' Bahram Salavati, an expert participating in this conference, stated that in recent years, the migration of elites has increased by '82 percent,' from '60,000 to 110,000 people,' and said, 'We need to establish a Ministry of Migration.' Additionally, Mohammad Hossein Sharifzadegan, a researcher, referred to '13 mega-challenges' in Iran that lead to the migration of elites, including 'decreased social capital and the relationship between government and people, decreased wealth production, increased inflation, lack of a foreign policy focused on economic development, corruption in all dimensions, poverty and inequality, water issues, environmental problems, banking crises, pension fund issues, budget imbalance, and energy imbalance.' He considered the most important of these 13 mega-challenges to be 'disruption in governance and the lack of a foreign policy focused on development.' Former Minister of Science: 'Only 16 percent of Iranians do not think about migration.'